Rock-solid Arsenal into League Cup final

Arsenal fought back from a goal down to beat old foes Chelsea and reach the League Cup final where they will meet Manchester City in a Wembley showdown.

Granit Xhaka poked home to complete a 2-1 second-leg win on Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium after their first leg ended goalless at Stamford Bridge.

The stalemate was swiftly broken as Chelsea took the lead through Eden Hazard after seven minutes.

Question marks about Arsenal's steel in the face of adversity were swept away as they levelled five minutes later through a fortuitous Antonio Rudiger own goal before they turned the match on its head.

Midfielder Xhaka turned predator 15 minutes after half-time to finish from close range and Arsenal stayed rock-solid at the back for the rest of the game to set up an enticing final against City on February 25.

"In the first half we gave Chelsea too much respect and distance. We were a bit scared to go for it," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

"We were not playing in the right position but we amended that in the second half and took control of the game."

The sides were meeting for the fifth time this season and it was clear that familiarity had bred a certain degree of contempt as the tackles flew in during a fiercely contested opening.

Arsenal had lost only one of their previous seven games against Chelsea, but were quickly under the cosh as Hazard put the visitors ahead, calmly stroking the ball past David Ospina after Chelsea carved open the hosts' backline.

The Emirates was subdued as Chelsea bossed the ball but a fortuitous leveller after 12 minutes brought the home crowd back to life and sparked Arsenal's revival.

A deep corner was met by Nacho Monreal whose header cannoned off the head of Marcos Alonso before ricocheting of Rudiger to leave Chelsea keeper Willy Caballero stranded.

Chelsea were hit with an injury blow when Willian was forced off with what looked like a hamstring problem after 29 minutes and his departure handed a debut off the bench to Ross Barkley.

That seemed to shift momentum in Arsenal's favour as the hosts finished the first half on the front foot, with Mesut Ozil seeing an effort deflected just wide, before they grabbed the lead shortly after the break.

Lacazette's pull back was deflected off Rudiger into the path of Xhaka, who stuck out a leg and poked the ball past Caballero from close range.

From that moment on Chelsea barely created a chance as Arsenal stayed resolute at the back and sharp on the counter, with the best opening falling to Alex Iwobi whose effort from 15 metres was saved by the legs of Caballero.

"There is a big disappointment ... there was great will to play at Wembley," Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said.